


Gentle Giant

by Jag_Erin



Category: The Strain (TV), The Strain Trilogy - Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan
Genre: Descriptions of sex, F/M, Giant Character, Loss of Virginity, Pre-Canon, Pre-infection, Sad and Sweet, Short & Sweet, Tall character, Tragic Romance, Virginity, slightly open ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:46:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27566962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jag_Erin/pseuds/Jag_Erin
Summary: Just a short story of the last few happy days of Jusef Sardu's life before he is taken by The Master.
Relationships: Jusef Sardu/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

_Pik. Pik. Pik._

The sound always echoed in the cold air off the stone walkways of the village. Everyone knew what it meant and it always got the kids riled up. The parents didn’t mind it so much. After all, it was better to be living in a village with a nobleman's son who was kind and gave treats and money to the children than one who beat them and kicked them. He would sit and tell them stories giving their parents time to do other things. It was a blessing to have the gentle giant around. No one seemed to share his father’s and brother’s opinion of it being a weakness. After all, they had their strong Lord and he had his heir. Jusef was never meant to rule, so they saw no reason to worry over his deformities.

“Magda,” his voice was deep enough to belong to a man twice his age. He was only fifteen, but he towered over some of the smaller huts and every person in the village. He would be twenty in a few short days. The village would celebrate for him, but there would be pitiful whispers. A boy his age should have been married for years by now and had several children.

There was no reason to risk Jusef passing on his deformities. The only way his father would even consider such a thing was if his son suddenly became a strong and well man. Nothing short of a miracle could make that happen. That being the case, Jusef would remain unmarried and father no legitimate children. Not that there were ever any rumors of him bedding any woman to even father illegitimate ones. Jusef was too kind for that.

“Witam, Mistrz Sardu,” she said softly, her cheeks flushed.

Magda was no more important than any other girl in the village their age. Daughter of a tailor and leatherworker, who sold warm cider in the cold months outside of her family shop. It wasn’t special cider, but it was something warm that everyone appreciated. Especially since Magda was prone to giving it away for free when she should have been trying to sell it. All she did was pour the apple cider they bottled in the summer into the large pot in front of the shop with a bottle of wódka, some honey, some dried apples, and a few herbs. It was well liked to keep the winter chill away.

She would sit for hours next to the fire under the pot, serving out drinks as people walked by. Some would bring their own cups and pitchers to be filled, others would just drink from the ones she had and leave them when they left. She would talk with those who came by, but she especially liked talking to Jusef.

With a smile on her face, she would get up from her chair and let him sit to rest his legs. Even with his walking cane, he still needed to rest often to keep his backs and legs from cramping up, “Sit, sit,” she encouraged before shooing the children off. This was her time with the youngest Sardu and she enjoyed that time. It gave him a break from them too. As kind as he was to the children, even he needed a break from time to time.

He sighed contentedly as he sat down, she could hear his knees crackle the way her father’s did when he woke in the mornings. Magda used to feel pity for him until she got to know him better. He was stronger than people gave him credit for. One evening after too much cider, he confessed to her that he was always in pain and he sometimes wished he would not wake in the morning. Yet he continued to smile day after day and put others ahead of himself. It was after that night she began to admire him.

“Here,” she always kept a larger than normal cup for him. Magda was careful not to fill it as much as she would for everyone else though. His hands shook and he would spill the hot cider on himself if she filled it all the way.

“Dziękuję, Magda,” he leaned his cane up against the wall of the shop before taking the cup in both of his hands, “It is very cold today.”

She nodded, “Tak. It is. You must keep warm,” she reached over and pulled his cloak a little more over one of his large shoulders. Even sitting, she had to look up at him, “Drink plenty. It will warm you.”

When he reached up to touch her hand, she felt her heart skip a little, “You are too kind,” he said with a smile.

Jusef wasn’t a handsome man. Every feature of his body was too big and too long for his youthful eyes. He had the eyes of a young man still learning about life, but the body of a man three times his age. From a distance, he looked tall and strong and even fearsome. Yet up close he looked so fragile. He wasn’t like the other men. He didn’t pick at her bottom when she turned to fill his cup. He didn’t go to the tavern and drink himself into a slumber or bed the whores in the brothel. He never caused fights. She could speak with him and feel like she was being listened to.

She thought about what a gentle husband Jusef would be. He would be sweet to her. She would be eighteen just a day before his birthday and her family expected her to marry. She was overdue for marriage by two years. Her brother had married two springs ago and his wife had already given him two children and was expecting a third. Her husband, whoever her family decided it would be, would not be kind to her the way Jusef was. Along with tending to him the way she already did for her mother and father, he would expect her to give him sons and let him touch her whenever he wanted. Her mother had already started prepping her for her wedding night. Telling her that it was best to just lay quietly and think of other things while her husband did his work. She was to do that every night until she was with child. It sounded unpleasant and her mother said it would be.

Perhaps she would find a way to enjoy it if she had affection for her husband. The thought of trying to bed with Jusef was not nearly as unpleasant as it was to think about bedding Liuz. He was the son of the Sardu stablemaster. He would touch her backside and comment to her father what an obedient wife she would make. He’d tried to convince her to come to the drinking hall with him one evening, but her mother had called her in for the night before he could pull her off down the street. Jusef wouldn’t be like that, because he didn’t have the capacity to be that way. 

What did it matter if her husband was nice to look at when the thought of his touch made her shudder and flinch? Magda would rather be held by a gentle giant at night.

She touched his cheek softly for a moment before pulling her hand away and going to stir the cider pot, “You are the kind one, Mistrz Sardu.”

“Jusef,” he reached out and touched the back of her hand with one of his massive ones, “Why do I always have to ask you to call me by my name?”

“It is not appropriate, Mistrz Sardu,” that was what she always told him. Magda would have liked to call him by his name, but if her father heard it, he would beat her something fierce for it. Perhaps if she married Liuz, that would put her closer to the Sardu’s in a way that she could do so. For now, though, it would be wrong, “Drink, drink,” she poured a little more into his cup, “Your face is cold.”

His hand touched her again as she set the ladle back into the pot. He never touched her the way some of the men did. It was always surprisingly light and delicate for how large his hands were. When he did things like that, she never needed the cider to warm her cheeks. It was things like that that told her Jusef Sardu was just as much a man like any other man. He wanted a woman, but he knew he wasn’t allowed. His father would be upset if he found out that his deformed son had not only taken a woman to bed and possibly risk spreading his deformity to a child but that he bed someone as low as herself. Her family wasn’t noble-born and they were not in the same good graces with the Sardu as those who ran the blacksmith. Likewise, Magda was expected to wait for her husband to ensure any child she had would be his and his alone.

She allowed herself a brief moment to turn her hand against his. To feel the width of it. Feeling how they shook just a little from his affliction. Letting her fingers touch the rough patches where he held his walking cane. Just for a moment before pulling away and moving to put a little bit of distance between them, “Mistrz Sardu…”

“Bardzo mi przykro,” he apologized sheepishly.

“If Tata and Mama saw…”

“Bardzo mi przykro,” he apologized again.

Their time together was not usually like this. They were both usually smiling and laughing. They had known each other most of their lives being born just a few years apart. Magda didn’t like feeling so shy around him. If they could just continue on as if she didn’t feel as if he wanted her as she wanted him, it would be for the best, “I will get you some pierogi. Mama made some this morning. So you do not get drunk,” a little distance and a little time would help break the tension.

“My Child, what are you doing?” her mother asked as she walked inside to get the food.

“Mistrz Sardu would like your pierogi, Mama,” she lied a little to the older woman.

The woman nodded lightly, “Do not charge him,” they never charged the Sardu’s for any cider or foods.

“Yes, Mama.”

Filling a small bowl with the dumplings, she topped them with melted butter and bits of bacon the way she knew he liked them before heading back out to the cider pot. Only he was gone. His cider cup was emptied and sitting on the ground next to the chair she sat in. It wasn’t alone though. Sitting on the chair was a small ring. It was simple, but beautiful with a stone the same honey color as the cider she made. She snatched it up quickly and tucked it fast into her apron pocket so that she could admire it later. Her eyes shot up and down the road quickly to ensure no one had seen him leave it or her pick it up.

Her eyes caught sight of him up the road with the familiar sound of his walking cane. Magda could have run after him and caught up to him easily, but she knew she couldn’t.


	2. Chapter 2

The sound woke her and she sat up in her bed fast. Hearing it again, she rubbed her eyes and looked around her darkened room until she got to the window. Magda nearly screamed, but she put her hands over her mouth and choked it back as she realized it was Jusef in her window. He was more than tall enough to see in and he was tapping lightly on the glass with his cane.

“Mistrz Sardu…” she gathered her blankets around herself before making her way to the window and opening it, “ Mistrz Sardu, what are you doing?” it was well past midnight. She hadn’t seen him since he left the ring by her cider pot. That was two weeks ago. He still came down to see the children, because she heard them the street over yelling excitedly as he gave them treats. Yet he never came to see her.

She shivered at the cold, winter wind that came in around him, though he blocked much of it. He had to bend down to talk to her through it and she knew that must hurt him, “You did not come to see me on my nameday,” even though she was no one special, everyone was allowed to go wish a Sardu well on their nameday.

“You did not come to see me on mine, Mistrz Sardu,” she snipped a little.

He looked away ashamedly, “I was not sure you wanted me to. I left you a gift for it. Did you like it?”

Magda did like it. She liked the ring very much. The little honey colored stone was surrounded by loops of aged looking gold, making it look like a flower. It was small and simple. She only wore it for a few moments every night before bed. Hiding it in a box under one of her floorboards. She couldn’t risk anyone else seeing it. If her father or mother saw it, they might think she stole it. If her younger sister or brother saw it, they would know a boy gave it to her and tell.

“It was very inappropriate, Mistrz Sardu.”

“But you liked it?”

Her cheeks warmed and she nodded lightly, “Yes.”

Magda gasped a little as he reached in and touched her cheek, cupping her face in his large hand. His hand was cold. Jusef was not normally this brave. Even touching her hand as lightly as he did from time to time was a great leap for him. To cup her face so intimately was very out of nature for him. In the dim light from the moon, she could make out the features of his face. He was looking at her the way she saw young girls and boys who were allowed to pick who they married looked at each other. Magda wasn’t of high standing, but her father would never allow her to choose who she married. He would be strategic about it to give his grandchildren a better standing than he had and than she had. He had married slightly above his status and he intended for his children to do the same.

Reaching up, she touched the back of his hand, “You are too cold.”

“Come outside with me.”

“Mistrz Sardu, it is too cold. We will freeze.”

“I will keep you warm.”

Magda knew he would. He would freeze, but he would protect her from the wind, “Tata and Mama…” if they caught her sneaking out, it would be the death of her more than any winter cold.

“I will help you out the window.”

She knew she was supposed to say no. That she needed to go back to bed and tell him he needed to leave. Instead, she pulled the blanket tighter around herself before running quietly across her room to the loose floorboard. She pried it up and dug her ring out of her box, slipping it onto her finger, and padding her way back across the room to the window. Jusef stepped back, straightening up, just enough to reach out and put his large hands around her waist. It was the most they had ever touched in their years knowing each other. He held her as firm as he could as she climbed from the window just to make sure she didn’t fall. 

Neither of them spoke as he wrapped his large cloak around her and they started down the road. He carried his walking cane off the ground to avoid anyone hearing the familiar sound of it. It made their walking slow and she knew he was in pain, but they walked until they reached the Sardu stables. The walls shielded them from the wind, but it was still cold and wet.

“Mistrz Sardu, I shouldn’t be here,” if it were any other man, she never would have left her room. Magda wasn’t the brightest girl, but she was smart enough to know not to be alone with a man this late at night. But this was Jusef. Even if he had seedy intentions, it was nothing she didn’t already want with him.

“Magda, Father is taking me on a hunt.”

The words caught her off guard. Lord Sardu did enjoy hunting and his other sons did as well, but Jusef had never been involved. Riding a horse would be impossible for him and he could never keep up on foot. Magda doubted he had the ability to kill in him, “Why?”

“...We are to go to Romania and I am to hunt a wolf. I am to eat it.”

Magda slowly sat herself down on a stack of hay. Stories about the Sardu’s were always talked about. The wolf was the symbol of their family. It was said that all the men were to eat the meat of a wolf to gain strength, but it was not something practiced in recent generations. That Lord Sardu was going to put Jusef through this meant that he was tired of his son’s gentle and frail nature. He wanted all of his sons to be strong, “You do not have to do this…” 

She should have expected his answer, “I must,” to go against his father would mean risk of being turned out. Jusef would never survive on his own and no one would take in the disgraced giant if that were to happen, “...but I fear I will not come back…”

That was her fear as well. It was one thing to force him to endure the journey and attempts to hunt, but to expect his body to survive such a thing was almost laughable. Either his father truly believed this would work or he was trying to kill his giant son and claim it to be an act of nature. It was one thing to marry another man and still get to see Jusef, but for him to die, it brought tears to Magda’s eyes.

Sobbing quietly into her hands, she felt him wrap his arms around her and pull her close to his chest. She knew kneeling hurt him greatly, but he wanted to comfort her. Reaching up, she cupped his face and leaned in to kiss his cheek softly, “You must come back.”

“I am not strong enough. Father knows this. He knows eating a wolf will not change anything, but he clings to an old fairytale because he is ashamed of me. He hopes for it to work or for it to kill me.”

“Jusef,” it had been many years since she had said his name out loud, “You will come back.”

“I am scared.”

When travelers passed through their village, they were always afraid of the giant man when they first saw him. They thought him fearsome and fearless. They were wrong. He had much to fear. His fragile body should not have lasted him this many years. Had he been born of her status, his family would have left him to die in his first winter. He was lucky to have lived as long as he had, “I know.”

The stables were drafty, but pressed against him and the hay, it felt warm. Magda slid her fingers down along his jaw and neck before touching the front of his chest, “Magda…”

“Shhhh...it is alright. I want this,” she said softly. Her mother had told her enough that she knew what was to be done. Lay back, pull her skirts up, and let him between her legs. From there, nature would take over. He’d know where to put himself and have her. Magda had seen horses and dogs mount each other. She imagined it was a little different from that, but not entirely. 

Having dressed down for bed, she was only wearing her nightgown and the blanket she had taken with her. It made it easier as she leaned back against the hay and started tugging the hem of her nightgown up. The cool air touching between her legs made her shiver, but she kept her eyes on his face as he started pushing his trousers down. She could feel his shaking hands moving to touch her legs a little as he leaned over her.

Magda didn’t want to look at it. She just wanted to look at him. She heard the girls make their jests about Jusef. They said it would be a sorry night for the girl who had to marry him if he were ever to marry. How she would be mounted like a horse and it would leave her unable to walk for days. It would be a lie if she were to say that she wasn’t nervous about how it was going to feel. Even with the man she would one day marry, she would be nervous. Jusef wouldn’t hurt her. She knew he wouldn’t. Magda reminded herself that her body was built to do this and more. 

Towering over her, she pressed her hands to his chest, gasping loudly as she felt it against her body. Whether it was bigger than it should be or if it was normal, Magda didn’t know. It stretched her though and she closed her eyes tight as her fingers gripped onto his shirt, “Magda…” his voice broke through to her and she forced herself to relax. To steady her breathing as he entered her. If he never came back, she would have this one memory of being with a man who she wanted. If he did, they would share a secret. It would keep them close and bonded together forever.

“Jusef…” she said softly as she felt his body shudder under her hands. It hurt a little, but she didn’t tell him to stop. They didn’t move much. It wasn’t needed. Jusef’s body couldn’t manage much at all. Perhaps if they were in some soft bed that could cradle his knees, but they weren’t. They were in a haystack in a drafty stable. 

Magda rocked her hips gently, creating the motions for him so he could hold still. It didn’t bother her to do it. The more she did, the better it felt. His breathing was heavy and she worried it was too much for him, “Please...no…” he said softly with need in his voice as she slowed to a stop, “...keep going…”

It felt good to bring him to completion. Mother had always told her that her husband would do what he needed to do and she just had to lay down and let him do it. Jusef needed her to do it. He needed her to do the work. It brought her pleasure to give him pleasure.The way he moaned lowly and shivered because of her was a wonderful feeling. 

He needed her.


	3. Chapter 3

If death were to come for him tonight, he would die happy. Knowing that he had spent his last week with Magda every night was more than he could have asked for. She had given herself to him in the cold, darkness of the stables every night and tonight was no different. Even if she hadn’t done the things she had, he would have been happy to just sit in the dark and talk to her as they had done for so many years in front of her family’s shop. 

Jusef knew the feelings he had for the girl and he had known for some time. She was kind and sweet. While most of the villagers tended to treat him well, he knew they said things about him. They appreciated that he was generous and kind to the children, but that didn’t stop the whispers and jokes. Magda never did those sorts of things. She always let him have her chair in front of the shop to rest his legs and back. She would wrap her shawl around his shoulders if it was too cold out. There were always extra perogies in his bowl when she brought them. Even just the way she smiled at him and laughed when one of them said something funny was different from the way others smiled or laughed when he was around.

His elder brother had explained to him before what it meant to be with a woman. Their father had been very upset when it was found out that Jusef was talked to about that. His father said it was torture to tell him about things he’d never get to experience. It was difficult not to think about what it would feel like to do that with Magda. There were nights he thought about it so much that he woke up in pain and had to wait for the tightness and pain between his legs to go away before he could start moving for the day.

Jusef didn’t know what had come over him the day he intended on giving her that ring. He knew there was no chance of her being able to marry him, despite him realizing that was what he wanted. He saw the ring in his mother’s jewelry box and thought of Magda. The color reminded him of the cider she liked to give him in the cold months and the color of her hair. His mother always had him sit in her room in the mornings while she brushed her hair to talk to him. He’d asked her about the ring and she told him it was just some old thing. That she didn’t even remember where she got it from.

It was a risk to do, but when his mother went to pick out her dress for the day, he stole the little ring. He wanted to give it to Magda. Jusef waited a week before trying to give it to Magda to see if his mother noticed it missing, but she didn’t.

His mind and heart had raced all morning as he made his way through the village towards her cider pot. Jusef had told himself that he couldn’t ask her to marry him. Even if he did, father would never allow it to happen. He wasn’t allowed to go to the tavern at night and he wasn’t supposed to be alone with girls. Father said he could never risk spreading his affliction to children of his own. Even still, he wanted to give it to her. He wanted her to know that while he could marry her, that he felt for her. Jusef knew he would spend the rest of his life watching her marry another man and have his children. But he had to let her know.

When she adjusted his cloak after her first sat, he’d touched her hand and watched her plump cheeks turn red. Her face always turned red if they touched at all. Jusef wanted to believe that she’d understand what the ring meant. Then she turned her hand in his and ran her fingers along his palm. His heart had been beating so hard that it hurt his chest. 

It ended when she quickly retreated back into the shop saying she would get him food. Jusef knew that she had been scared or even ashamed. They weren’t supposed to be touching like that. He’d left the ring behind when he left in the hopes that she understood.

The first night he brought her to the stables, he had no intentions on what happened even happening. Jusef just wanted to say his farewells to her. He did not believe he would return from his hunting trip. He was meant to die on it. His family was tired of acknowledging the pitiful thing that he was. There was no sign that he would stop growing any time soon and the larger he got, the harder it was for him to move about. The pain was so severe that he was sure he would die from the pain of hunting travels alone. All he had wanted was to see her again before that happened.

When he felt her fingers running down his neck and touching his chest, he started feeling that familiar tightness he got some mornings after dreaming about her at night. He’d tried to tell her she didn’t have to do that, but she said it was what she wanted. He half expected to wake up and realize it was all a dream. Instead, he watched her hike up her nightgown and lay back for him. Jusef tried his best to do what his brother had described, but it was painful for his body to move that way. Magda understood though. She was quick to move for him.

Jusef realized he wasn’t making her a woman the way his brother said it did when a man took a girl for the first time. Instead, Magda was the one making him a man. This was a feeling he was never supposed to feel. Father had always told him that his body wasn’t made for taking a woman. Jusef agreed, but he now realized that his body was perfectly suited for being taken by a woman.

For the past week, Magda helped him enjoy physical pleasure for the first time in his life. The second night she met him in the stables, he realized she wanted to be with him again. Jusef couldn’t find a reason to say no. He wanted to feel it again. Unfortunately, his arms couldn’t support himself. He’d managed the night before, but he felt too weak that day. Instead of stopping, Magda helped him get as comfortable as possible laying in the hay and she climbed across his lap. Feeling her that way had been wonderful.

Even tonight, her skirts were hiked up so she could straddle his lap and pleasure him. Her hand rested on his chest as her hips rolled and rocked against him. Jusef’s face felt flushed and he was breathing heavy, but so was she. Magda had never closed her eyes. She never did when they were like this. That meant something to him. Jusef was aware that he was not as handsome as most men. That she wanted to look at him while they were so intimate made his heart soar.

“Jusef…” the way she said his name sounded so lovely. The way she panted it between her soft moans made the pain that never really went away in his body feel worth it. He was willing to tolerate it so long as Magda had her body atop his. He couldn’t move much himself, but he could place his hands on her hips and help to move them.

He never wanted this to end, but he knew it had to. It never took long. Jusef’s body couldn’t manage for long, “Magda…” he whispered her name back as he gripped the fabric of her dress a little harder as he felt himself coming to completion. She continued to roll her hips, ever so slightly, as he finished. It felt wonderful. He couldn’t imagine any other woman doing for him what she had. His brother said girls knew what to do. That they were supposed to lift their skirts for them and let them do whatever it was they wanted until they were finished. 

When they were finally finished, she would lean over to kiss him. Jusef realized he enjoyed kissing just as much as being with her. Their kisses were soft and slow. It was just a comforting feeling. Tonight, more than ever, he needed that comfort. This was going to be their last night together. In the morning, he would leave with his father and brother for their hunt.

Jusef knew he wouldn’t be coming back. This was going to be the last time he would see Magda. He had a feeling she knew that too. Because as soon as they broke from their kiss, she slid from his lap and settled onto the hay next to him. Her face looked somber and she quickly covered it with her hands. Her shoulders shook a little. While he couldn’t hear it, he knew she was crying.

As quick as he could manage, he fixed his pants and forced himself to sit up so that he could try to comfort her. He pulled her into his arms and she buried herself against his chest, “It will be alright,” not that it would, but it was okay to lie in these situations. 

When she pulled back from him, he was surprised, “You do not have to do this, Jusef.”

“I have no choice.”

“Yes you do. We will run away. Tonight.”

Her idea shocked him. Magda was not prone to fantastical thoughts like that in all the years he’d known her, “We cannot…”

“Yes we can. No one is here to stop us. We will take the cart and two horses and be gone. No one will notice us missing until the morning. If we take the horses, we can get far by then. Do you really think they would miss us anyway? My family has my brother to carry things on and…” she didn’t need to finish it. His family was willing to send him to his death in the wild to finally be rid of him.

As much as he liked the idea of running away with her, he knew it wasn’t possible. The thought of having a small house with her, just the two of them, somewhere alone was lovely. Being able to have her massage his back when it was in pain, making love to her, sitting next to a pot of cider while they talked for as long as they wanted, and possibly even giving her a child; it was all wonderful. But it wasn’t practical. Magda wasn’t prepared to and shouldn’t have to care for him. She didn’t know what he went through every day during the times they were apart. He avoided talking about it, because he didn’t want to worry her.

“I cannot, Magda.”

“I love you, Jusef.”

Her words meant so much to him. To hear her say that, it made him feel things he’d never felt before, “I love you too, Magda.”

“Then leave with me.”

He wanted to. He wanted that to be his life, but he knew he couldn’t. He was a burden. Without his family, he’d never survive. He knew if he had been born anything other than a Sardu, he would have been dead within days of birth. Without the servants his family employed to care for him, he wouldn’t be able to function, “You know I cannot.”

She started to cry again, “I will not be with another man. I will refuse to get married. If I cannot be with you, then I will be with no one.”

“Magda, you cannot do that. You must move on with your life. You will be happy.”

“I was happy, Jusef. I was happy to have you sit with me and talk to me and listen to me. If we cannot do that anymore, I will never be happy again.”

He tried to pull her close again, but she pulled back, “Magda…” but she stood fast and ran. She was still crying and now she was upset. It wasn’t possible for him to get up fast enough to go after her. Even once he got up, it would take time for him to make it back to her house. Once he did manage to get there, it wasn’t as if he could just knock on the door and ask to speak to her. It was the middle of the night. She knew what she was doing by running from him. It was impossible for him to make her talk anymore tonight and he doubted he would get a chance to speak to her tomorrow before he left.

It pained him that their last moments speaking had to be like that. They were both still young though. She likely wasn’t thinking about that. 

She was only thinking about the pain in her own heart.


	4. Chapter 4

A week. That was how long they had before he left with his father and brother on their hunting trip. Magda met with him every night in the stables and let him have her. She felt good giving herself to him that way. They found ways to make it more comfortable for him, but all of them still involved her controlling the movement. Magda liked it that way. Jusef enjoyed it as well. He liked being the one to lay back in the hay and let her work herself over him. It felt right. 

When he left, she cried all night alone in her room. She had asked him to run away with her the night before he left, but he refused. She’d run away from him and not even gone with the rest of the village to see the male Sardu’s off for their hunt.

Things weren’t any easier when her mother commented that it was good she was finally getting better at cleaning up after herself when her womanly came. Magda hadn’t even realized she hadn’t had her womanly cycle. In the back of her mind, she tried to figure out when was the last time she had cycled. At least two weeks before she let Jusef have her. How long since he had left? Almost two months.

“Kurwa!” her mother hissed, “Tania dziwka!” the harsh words made her hunch over in shame and she covered her face as she tried not to cry.

“Mama...please…” the woman kept calling her a whore and her cheek hurt from where the woman had slapped her. Magda had kept the confession quick. She waited until her father and siblings were out and just told the woman that she had missed her cycle twice and she’d been with a man.

“How many men do you let between your legs?!”

“Just one, Mama. I swear,” she missed Jusef. She missed him coming to sit next to her cider pot, talking to her, and now she missed the feel of his body inside of her own. She thought of him often at night when she would wear the ring he gave her. Just for a few minutes before she hid it away again until the next night.

The older woman paced the small room a bit, “Who is he? Your father will have him marry you,” that was the simplest solution. Though it did hinge on the man admitting that he had deflowered a girl before her wedding night. Some men just denied the accusation and the girl was brushed off as a whore who didn’t really know who the father was.

“I...I cannot...say…” she said slowly.

“Why? If it is only one man, who is he?”

“...Mama…” she glanced up at the woman before looking back down at the floor.

The woman’s eyes widened in disbelief for several long moments before saying anything, “You...you let the Sardu giant touch you?” she said very low, as if she feared someone outside their home would hear, “Magda, how could you? That defromed...thing,” he was a Sardu and children loved him, but few spoke well of Jusef. Had his strength matched his form, that would have made things different. As it was, he was fragile and kind. People snickered behind his back and told stories about him.

“Mama, I care for him.”

“No!” she snapped, “He made you drink. He took you while you were unconscious. That is what we will tell anyone who finds out the truth.”

“Mama, no…” Magda couldn’t do that. She didn’t like lies and she could never make Jusef out to be a real monster.

“Do not worry. If we are lucky, no one will ever find out,” her mother was always a quick thinker, “Father will accept Luiz’s offer to marry you and you will be married within the month. Father wanted to wait until spring, but I will tell him it must be now. While the Sardu are gone. That way they cannot overshadow it,” the Sardu’s had a way of making events about themselves, Jusef being the exception to that. Magda knew her father would agree to that.

“But I am almost two months, Mama,” Magda never deluded herself into thinking she would really marry Jusef. Even if he returned and she confessed to being with child to him, it wouldn’t be an option. Lord Sardu wouldn’t allow it. If his plans to make Jusef strong worked, he would marry a proper girl. If it failed, he wouldn’t be allowed to marry anyone. It wouldn’t matter that the baby inside her was a Sardu or not, it would never be a part of their family.

“You really are a stupid girl. You lie. Just as you will lie if people find out the truth. You marry Luiz this month and are carrying his baby next month. The baby will be born early. People will talk about what a large child it is, but Luiz will be happy to have a strong, big child so long as it is a boy. We can only pray it is not deformed.”

All of this made Magda feel ill, “Mama, people won’t believe that.”

“They will. Even if Luiz questions it, he would be stupid to admit he married a whore. He’ll put another child in you right away and care for it more than he does the first born. Perhaps it will be a girl and he won’t even notice her until it is time to marry her off one day. So long as it is not deformed.

This was wrong. She knew it was wrong. Magda wanted to believe her mother knew it was wrong too, but that didn’t seem to matter, “Mama, he will know that I am not a virgin,” there had to be a way out of this.

“Nonsense. You bring a sewing pin to your bed. Prick your finger and wipe it on the bed,” Magda looked up at her mother in shock that she would suggest such a thing, “My daughter,” the older woman touched the same cheek she had smacked earlier, “We do what we must.”

**-End-**


End file.
